Daniel Cormier explains disinterest in Stipe Miocic rematch: ‘We did not make money’ in the first fight

UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is set to defend his title against Derrick Lewis in the main event of UFC 230 on November 3 in New York City. While many fight fans seem pretty interested in this matchup, others feel the next heavyweight title shot could have gone to former champion Stipe Miocic, the man Daniel Cormier won the title from, and the most dominant champion in the division’s history.

Daniel Cormier, however, says a rematch with Stipe Miocic just doesn’t make sense right now. A big part of the reason it doesn’t make sense for him, he says, is that his first bout with Miocic just wasn’t that lucrative. Yet he also feels that Miocic’s recent Twitter trash talk might boost interest in a potential rematch.

“I’m not trying to say I’m afraid of Stipe. I swear I’m not afraid of Stipe Miocic. Why would I be?” Cormier recently told MMAWeekly. “It just did not make sense right now. I don’t mind fighting him again. It’s not like it was the hardest fight.”

“I do appreciate that he’s being vocal because shit man, maybe if he had done that in the beginning, maybe we would have made some money,” Cormier added. “The pay-per-view didn’t do that well because we did not make money. Obviously, issues sell. Maybe he’s trying to stir the pot a little bit to get some interest in our fight.”

Daniel Cormier also questioned Stipe Miocic’s recent claims that he was winning the fight until the fight-ending blow. In Cormier’s eyes, the first and only round of the fight was competitive — and then he finished it by knockout.

“I think it’s crazy in the sense that he says ‘you won the first one, that will be the last one you ever win’. It’s not like he was smashing me,” Cormier said. “He says he was winning the fight. I was hitting him with some clean shots. It was an even round and he got knocked out.”

Does a rematch between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic interest you?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 10/18/2018.